Heavy metals such as mercury can be present in trace amounts in all types of produced fluids such as hydrocarbon gases, crude oils, and produced water. The amount can range from below the analytical detection limit to several thousand ppbw (parts per billion by weight) depending on the source. Mercury has been predominately managed with mercury removal adsorbent beds in facilities handling hydrocarbon gases, and by operationally managing mercury with mercury specific personal protection equipment (“PPE”) and procedures.
Some gas processing facilities may operate for extended periods of time, e.g., years, before mercury is detected in the inlet facilities. It is known that mercury slowly accumulates in the flowlines from the wells to the gas processing facilities via adsorption. Once the flowlines become “saturated” with mercury, mercury will “breakthrough” and be detected at the inlet facilities. After “breakthrough,” the rate of rise in mercury at the inlet facilities can be low, giving some notice time to implement a solution.
There is a need for a management scheme to/ leverage the flowline adsorption capacity to manage, control, and remove mercury in produced fluids from a reservoir, e.g., gas, crude, condensate, and produced water.